The college dancer behind that famous kneeling photo explains what it's like to go viral for an act of protest

The INSIDER Summary:

A photo of a Georgia Tech dancer kneeling during the national anthem went viral this weekend.

Many assumed the photo was taken this weekend, when many NFL players chose to protest during or around the anthem, but it was actually taken last year.

The woman in the photo spoke about what it's like to have an act of protest go viral and why she chose to kneel.

Chances are, you've seen the viral photo of a sole dance team member kneeling during the national anthem. Although many have assumed the photo was from this past weekend, when many NFL players chose to kneel, link arms or sit out the national anthem, her action actually took place last year.

About a year ago, October 21, 2016 to be exact, Georgia Institute of Technology Gold Rush dance member Raianna Brown decided to kneel during the national anthem before a football game. She told The Cut that the action was not a surprise to her teammates — she asked her coach for permission and they assured her that there would be no retaliation.

Brown posted a photo of her kneel to moderate attention, and told The Cut that she knelt for the rest of the 2016 football season. At the time, the photo didn't garner much attention. This past weekend, however, she re-posted the photo of her kneel with the hashtag #takeaknee.

Brown told INSIDER in a statement that, like Kaepernick, she was called to kneel by the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man, Terence Crutcher, by a police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She said that she was inspired by Kaepernick's protest, and wanted to kneel in solidarity and to bring to light Crutcher's killing.

The kneeling players this year have sparked counter-protests, much like Kaepernick's did last year. Videos have sprung up of fans burning jerseys and selling season tickets of teams and players who decided to kneel or sit out the anthem entirely.

Although these people say that they see the act of kneeling as a sign of disrespect to the flag and to the military, Brown told INSIDER in a statement that she doesn't see kneeling that way. She said that she does it because she wants to bring to light issues that she cares about it and to point out ways she feels the country can do better for people of color.

"I did not kneel to disrespect the flag; instead, I sought to question the morals of the nation it represents," she said in the statement.

Brown said that people were mostly supportive when she posted the image last year. But now that it's gone viral, there has been a bit more "blow-back." But she told The Cut that, in this situation, the support that she's received from the post has outweighed the bad in her mind.

"This time I've actually gotten a lot more, I guess, blow-back; as far as social media, there have been a lot more negative comments," she told them. "But the negative comments are really outweighed by all the positive support I have received."

Although she's not on the team this year, Brown is continuing her activism by co-founding a dance company, RAIIN Dance Theater, that will focus on exploring issues facing people of color. Brown told Teen Vogue that she wished the protests this year would have been met with more understanding — instead of viral videos of burning jerseys — but that she knows that progress sometimes takes time.

"It saddens me that it's still such a large issue and even a year later, this picture has so much weight to it," she told them. "In an ideal world, the protest last year would have caused more change but I know change is slow and it's necessary to put in the work to make that happen."